Health and
Healing in
Spring, 2005 Prof. Stephen Volz
Wed 1:10-4:00 Seitz House, office 6, x5836
Acland seminar room Tue 4-5, Wed 10-12, Thu 1-3
HIST18800s05@kenyon.edu volzs@kenyon.edu
description
This seminar investigates the responses of Africans to various social and physical ills that have plagued them since 1800. From the time of the slave trade through the colonial era up to the current AIDS epidemic, Africans have had to deal with many threats to their well-being. We will explore different ideas of health and study how Africans have used both religion and science in their efforts to preserve and protect themselves from harm. Using a combination of historical studies, literature and eyewitness accounts, we will discuss the personal and social effects of such things as poverty, disease and witchcraft, as well as the connections that might be drawn between them.
requirements
As a foundation seminar, the main academic goal of the class is to introduce students to the skills and techniques that are needed to write a major historical research paper. Rather than complete an entire research paper, however, students will conduct a number of smaller exercises during the course of the semester that each constitute part of producing a larger research paper.
The grade for the class will be determined by the number of points earned out of a possible total of 500, apportioned as follows: discussion questions (40), review essay summary (80), case study comparison (80), topical paper (100), research presentation (40), presentation outline (40), annotated bibliography (40) and participation (80). Students are expected to participate actively and intelligently in discussion, thoughtfully considering the different viewpoints of the authors, the instructor and one another. In order to participate, students will, of course, need to be present, and unexcused absences will result in a lowered participation grade. Each student will be allowed one “free” absence, but any absence after that will result in the loss of 10 points from the participation grade.
The final
letter grade will be determined by the percent of points earned out of the
total of 500, according to the following scale:
97-100% A+ 87-89% B+ 77-79% C+ 65-69% D
93-96% A 83-86% B 73-76% C < 65% F
90-92% A- 80-82% B- 70-72% C-
disability guidelines
If you have
a disability for which you might need some accommodation in order to
participate fully in the course, please see the instructor and inform Ms. Erin Salva, the Coordinator of Disability Services, at
salvae@kenyon.edu and x5453.
readings
The readings for the course are a
mix of books, articles and book chapters. The readings listed for each day
should be read in preparation for that day’s class. The required books can be
purchased in the Kenyon bookstore, and they are:
Elenore Smith Bowen, Return to Laughter
Steven Feierman and John M. Janzen
(eds.), The Social Basis of Health and
Healing in
John Janzen, The Quest for
Therapy in
Megan Vaughan, Curing Their Ills
Edward Green, Rethinking
AIDS Prevention
The other readings are articles and
excerpts from various books. Many of them will be available on reserve (designated
by [RES] in the schedule) as a photocopy at the library’s circulation desk and
as a PDF file in E-Res. The password to access the E-Res materials is afya (the
Kiswahili word for “health”). Some of the readings will not be on reserve but
are journal articles that are available through the library website at J-Stor [JST], the
supplementary resources
In order to
complete some of the written assignments for the class, students will need to learn
how to locate other sources of information. Many scholarly articles related to
health in
assignments
discussion questions:
For those class meetings when there is no other written assignment due, students will be expected to compose three questions that will serve as the basis for discussing the readings for that day. They should be e-mailed to the instructor on the night before the class. 5 points each.
review essay summary:
Each student will summarize and be prepared to discuss the main ideas or arguments of a scholarly essay that reviews the study of health and healing in African history. 4-5 pages, due Feb. 2, 80 points.
case study comparison:
Each student will choose a study of healing practices in a different African society and compare it with Janzen’s Quest for Therapy, noting similarities and differences between the findings of the scholars and between the societies that they have studied. 4-5 pages, due Feb. 23, 80 points.
topical paper:
Each student will write a short
research paper on a topic related to health and healing in
research presentation:
Each
student will give a 15-20 minute presentation, followed by question and discussion,
on some topic related to health and healing in
presentation outline:
Each student will write a detailed outline of their presentation, organizing their information and ideas in a way that will clearly and effectively explain and support their arguments and conclusions. 3-4 pages, handed in at the time of the presentation on May 4, 40 points.
annotated bibliography:
Each student will write a list of the sources that were used in preparing the research presentation. At least 8 sources should be used, and for each source, there should be a paragraph summarizing the main ideas and importance of the source and how it contributed to – or differed from – the conclusions of the student’s research. Handed in at the time of the presentation on May 4, 40 points.
schedule of topics,
readings and assignments
1/19 introduction
to African ideas of health and healing
1/26 observing health and illness in Tiv society
Elenore Smith Bowen, Return to Laughter
2/2 the study of health and healing in the history of
Susan Whyte, “Anthropological approaches to African misfortune, from religion to
medicine” [RES]
Gwyn Prins, “But what was the disease? The present state of health and healing in
African studies” Past and Present 124 (1989) 159-179 [JST]
Megan Vaughan, “Healing and curing: issues in the social history and anthropology of
medicine in
Steven Feierman & John Janzen,
“Introduction”, in Feierman and Janzen,
Social Basis
of Health and Healing in
{ assignment: written summary of the main ideas of one of these essays }
2/9 early Kongo medicine
John Janzen, The Quest for Therapy, 1-125
2/16 Kongo medicine, continued
John Janzen, The Quest for Therapy, 127-229
2/23 other cases of early African medicine
Ismail Abdalla, “Diffusion of Islamic medicine into Hausaland”, in Social Basis, 177-194
Gloria
Waite, “Public health in pre-colonial east
Gwyn Prins, “A modern history of Lozi therapeutics”, in Social Basis, 339-365
Marion Wallace, “ ‘Making tradition’: healing, history and ethnic identity among
Otjiherero-speakers in
Studies 29,2 (2003) 355-372 [ASP]
Susan Whyte, “Penicillin, battery acid and sacrifice – cures and causes in Nyole
medicine” [RES]
{ assignment: written comparison of one of
these cases with Janzen’s Quest for Therapy }
3/2 European colonial ideas about health in
Megan Vaughan, Curing Their Ills, 1-54, 155-179
Philip Curtin, “Medical knowledge
and urban planning in colonial tropical
Social Basis, 235-255
Nancy Rose Hunt, “ ‘Le bebe en brouse’: European women, African birth spacing and
colonial
intervention in breast feeding in the
Albert Schweitzer, “First
activities in
3/9, 3/16 SPRING BREAK
3/23 colonial missionary medicine
Megan Vaughan, Curing Their Ills, 55-99
Terence Ranger, “Godly medicine: the ambiguities of medical mission in southeastern
3/30 colonial challenges to African health
Megan Vaughan, Curing Their Ills, 100-154
{ written description of one major case, health issue or disease during the colonial era }
4/6 professional health care in
S. Ogoh Alubo, “Debt crisis, health
and health services in
Christine Obbo, “Healing, cultural fundamentalism and syncretism in
F. M. Mburu, “The social production of health in
Carol MacCormack, “Health care and the concept of legitimacy in
Social Basis, 427-436
Benedicte Ingstad, “Healer, witch, prophet or modern health worker? The changing role
of Ngaka ya Setswana” [RES]
4/13 resurgence
of witchcraft
Peter Geschiere, “Witchcraft and sorcery” [RES]
Adam Ashforth, “The Soweto witch project”, Transition 9, 1 (2000) 22-51 [EJC]
Misty Bastian, “ ‘Bloodhounds who have no friends’: witchcraft and locality in the
Nigerian popular press” [RES]
4/20 AIDS epidemic: Western viewpoints
Johanna McGeary, “Death stalks a continent” [RES]
John Caldwell, “Rethinking the African
AIDS epidemic”, Population and Development
Review 26, 1 (2000) 117-135 [JST]
Edward Green, Rethinking AIDS Prevention, 3-137
4/27 AIDS epidemic: African examples
Edward Green, Rethinking AIDS
Prevention, 139-252, 273-331
David MacDonald, “Notes on the
socio-economic and cultural factors influencing the
transmission of HIV in
Quentin Gausset,
“AIDS and cultural practices in Africa: the case of the
(
5/4 research presentations
reserve readings
Susan Whyte, “Anthropological approaches to African misfortune, from religion to medicine”,
in Culture, experience, and pluralism : essays on
African ideas of illness and healing,
ed. Anita Jacobson-Widding, David Westerlund (Stockholm: Uppsala, 1989) 289-301
Megan Vaughan, “Healing and curing: issues in the social history and anthropology of
medicine in
Susan Whyte, “Penicillin, battery acid and sacrifice – cures and causes in Nyole medicine”
Social Science and Medicine 16, 23 (1982) 2055-2064
Albert Schweitzer, “First activities in
C. T. Campion], (New York: Henry Holt, 1949) 138-162
S. Ogoh Alubo,
“Debt crisis, health and health services in
31, 6 (1990) 639-648
Benedicte Ingstad, “Healer, witch, prophet or modern health worker? The changing role of
Ngaka ya Setswana”,
in Culture, experience, and pluralism : essays on African ideas of
illness and
healing, ed. Anita
Jacobson-Widding, David Westerlund
(
1989) 247-276
Peter Geschiere, “Witchcraft and
sorcery”, in John Middleton (ed.), Encyclopedia of
South of
the
Misty Bastian, “ ‘Bloodhounds who have no friends’: witchcraft and locality in the
Nigerian
popular press” , in Jean and John Comaroff
(eds.), Modernity and its
Malcontents (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993) 129-166
Johanna McGeary, “Death stalks a continent” Time (Feb. 12, 2001) 36-54
David MacDonald,
“Notes on the socio-economic and cultural factors influencing the
transmission
of HIV in